THE TRAINING WEEKEND – NEXT STOP RWANDA!

It was roughly a year ago now that I applied to go to Africa with CWB as a volunteer. I’ve been harping on to anyone who’ll listen for that time about my trip – be it in real life or be it online…. but now it’s here!

This week, we’ll be flying to Rwanda via Ethiopia for the experience of a lifetime. How does one prepare for a trip to a sub-Saharan, tropical environment?

A weekend in Coventry of course!

To be precise, a training weekend in Coventry with the CWB coaches and a chance to meet everyone I will be spending the next couple of weeks with, together with the teams going to Botswana & Kenya a week after us. (You’ll be hearing from my travel-buddies: Thom, Rob, Iain, Hope, Sally, Claire, Suresh and Bob over the coming weeks.)

Teams Rwanda / Botswana / Kenya 2016

The weekend took the format of two days of cricket coaching advice, plus learning about HIV & AIDS in Africa – and how to mix both into the messages we want to share with everyone we meet. It was an enlightening experience, and I know our whole team can’t wait to get out there to spread the good work that CWB does, as well as have a whole load of fun!

As a caveat, I’d just like to add that I’m pretty sure than most of Rwanda will be more civilised than certain parts of Coventry. After dinner most of the weekend trainees descended upon Coventry’s most-celebrated, late night karaoke bar called ‘The Jaguar’. Songs were sung, conversations were had & drinks were quaffed. The Jaguar is the only place I’ve ever been to that when you order a G&T, you get soda water. Oh, and three of us were less than lucky with our choice of hotel. A very drunk couple had an argument for an hour at 2 a.m, continuously shouting ‘grow up’ at each other – it got to the point where I imagined that they were both gonna grow up so much that their heads would break through the ceiling.

Anyway, who needs gin and sleep when you’re going to Rwanda in a few days time.. not me! Could someone invent time travel so I don’t have to wait until Friday? Watch this space for lots of photos / videos and blogs!